The Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has alleged that Senate President Godswill Akpabio ordered officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to seize her international passport, thereby preventing her from travelling abroad.

In a video obtained by Naijaonpoint on Tuesday, the visibly upset lawmaker was seen confronting immigration officers at the airport, accusing them of unlawfully restricting her movement.

Akpoti-Uduaghan, who shared details of the incident with journalists, described the alleged action as a violation of her fundamental human rights.

“Hello, fellow Nigerians. I’m Senator Natasha. Having completed my second year in office, I decided to take a week off. I’m at the airport here, and my passport has been withheld again,” she said in the viral video.

She recalled a similar experience in the past when she was stopped from travelling despite having no pending charges or court orders restricting her movement.

“This same thing happened before when I was stopped from travelling even though I had committed no offence, and there was no court order restricting me,” she said.

According to the lawmaker, one of the immigration officers informed her that the directive came directly from the Senate President, who allegedly accused her of damaging Nigeria’s image through her interactions with international media.

“The officer in charge told me that the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, instructed them to withhold my passport and prevent me from travelling because he claimed that each time I go abroad, I ‘spoil the image of the country’ by granting interviews to international media,” Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged.

She decried what she called harassment and intimidation, insisting that her constitutional rights to freedom of movement and expression must be respected.

As of press time, neither the Nigeria Immigration Service nor the Office of the Senate President had issued any official response to the senator’s claims.

Watch the video below:

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